


Salted Sweetness

by SolemnPrince



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Crying Kylo Ren, Dacryphilia, Enemies to Lovers, I'm gay for one (1) crybaby Ren, M/M, Men Crying, Self-Indulgent, Tears
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:07:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22109080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolemnPrince/pseuds/SolemnPrince
Summary: Kylo doesn't realise that his surplus of emotions, manifested as tears, brings about heat in a few different parts of the great General Hux's anatomy. Not at first anyway.When he finally catches on, Kylo Ren sets about on a mission to push the General to the brink of his sanity and gain more of the other's affection (as an unintended side effect, of course). What he doesn't expect is to enjoy it so much or for Hux to see through him eventually. Though really, he probably should have seen it - and Hux's merciless retribution - coming.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41





	Salted Sweetness

**Author's Note:**

> Note that this came about purely on a whim and is my first piece of writing in a while after a massive slump - also because I don't really invest too much into paying attention to Star Wars Things TM, there are bound to be vagueries and made up bullshit - especially in regards to: Ships, things on ships, the timelines and troopers in general. So almost everything.
> 
> Additionally, I am really fucking gay for Hux? But?? A physically expressive and emotional Kylo is really attractive? (Also I don't do romance irl but I've read enough to give this a shot? Please tell me if I observed a thing wrong about relationships.)
> 
> (Sidenote: Anyone who has read my other work, forgive me for the long absence and then this? I'm still undecided on whether to rewrite it, as well as the unreleased chapters, or scrap it and start anew.)

Kylo never really noticed - at least, not the first dozen times it happened. He figured Hux was just mimicking the actions of those dramaticized and overly sentimental lovers in the holovids that he had, under duress, been bribed to watch with Kylo. After all, it was always accompanied by a soothing hand or comforting grip almost at the back of Kylo’s neck, just shy of slipping around into an _extremely satisfying_ chokehold. Hux’s fingers were always plagued by tiny tremors as he kissed the tears from Kylo’s cheeks - something he had thought was due to an insecure relationship with his sweet side rather than a hidden… well, ‘perversion’ didn’t sit right on his tongue but he wasn’t sure what to call it.

He wasn’t sure what to call Hux’s fascination and near-worship of his tear-streaked cheeks and the need to _taste_ them.

The first time it happened was a surprise to them both, he was sure.

Kylo had been tense for a while by that point - the distance from his Knights, Snoke’s ever-looming presence and the way that the Resistance was practically taunting them, taunting _him_ , had him just on the edge.

Then.

Then something happened. He wasn’t sure what exactly set him off, he couldn’t remember over the internal thrumming of his anger, the way memories of his childhood played relentlessly in his head for hours after the fact. Kylo only knew it had something to do with a pair of off-duty troopers and a few comments about his mother.

Needless to say, the troopers did not come out of the situation unscathed, nor did the surrounding tables in the mess hall, one from which he had previously been people-watching. He had later been informed by an extremely irritated Hux that his hobby, recently acquired as it was, had been causing a rise in anxiety amongst troops that frequented that area.

His destructive streak did not end with just a couple of troopers and an admittedly large number of tables however. In his mindless attack he had somehow managed to make his way out of the room, down an impressive length of hallways, ending up in the only place he felt safe. The training room wasn’t perfect and was sometimes used by other high-ranking officers but overall it was the one place his mind seemed to be in agreement with his body.

Except on that occasion.

To this day he still had no knowledge of what the mess he had managed to make with his saber had looked like, the world a blur as he shuddered his way through the phantoms of long-gone affection and overwhelming joy brought on by memories he thought he’d buried. He knew the cost of his mess though - remembered the chain of emails he had been passive-aggressively linked in days later.

Eventually Hux was called in to ‘sort him out’ or some other rubbish. It took a fair amount of effort on the other man’s part to shout through the fog in Kylo’s head. Kylo had been facing away from the doorway in which General had been stood and really wasn't in the mood to listen.

When the sound did reach him, Kylo turned far too fast, stumbling back a few unsteady steps and slicing his saber through the air that reeked of sweat and singed metal. It was burning in there. Feeling almost cooked alive in his helmet and cowl, he dropped his weapon without care in what felt like a race to escape his self-induced trappings. He wrenched the helmet off of his head and threw it to the floor, bowling over to rest his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

All the while, Hux watched him, seemingly unbothered as he leaned on the wall near the door. The only thing that gave away his unnerved state was the way his foot tapped away on the floor in rapid tap-tap-tap motions.It was comforting for Kylo to focus on.

Just as he was calming down, Hux had seen fit to ruin the moment by opening his mouth.

“Are you done?” He said, sounding distinctly _less than impressed_. “Do feel free to let me know otherwise. After all, you seem to have missed one piece of equipment and most of the light fixtures.”

Kylo’s breath was still shaking as he choked on his freshly renewed anger - though it was nothing compared to what he had previously felt. Standing up only moderately helped and as he looked at Hux, or what was more accurately the blurred silhouette of the man, he noticed his vision was still swimming and that his whole face stung like a thousand small cuts.

He blinked, then again and again once he realised that it was actually helping him to see. His reward was the feeling of tears slipping down his face and a more focused view of what he noticed to be one slightly flushed looking General Hux.

The other man’s eyes were wide, focused in on his face, doing what Kylo had thought to be taking precise note of his first view of the ‘infamous’ Kylo Ren’s face. Those eyes seemed glued to his face, not moving away in the slightest as he swayed forwards ever so slightly. 

Then Hux moved.

Closer...

Closer still...

Finally, Hux came toe to toe with him. His highly polished boots squeaked just the tiniest bit as they pressed against Kylo’s own, the distraction causing the taller of the pair to look down with a slight jump, noticing as he did so that Hux’s hands were on the rise.

He watched with mistrust as those hands came closer to his face, one covered in the usual sleek black glove, the other unusually bare. He resisted the urge to move, to push, to fight, seeing it as a challenge of sorts… But when they came into contact, gentler than expected, with the space just under Kylo’s ears... he couldn't resist the shudders that went through him.

If it was a game Hux was playing, as he suspected, Kylo was at a severe disadvantage.

Yet when his head was pulled gently forwards, he went with a surprising willingness and an illusion of calm that he didn’t feel at that moment. That was when a pair of extremely chapped and oft-worried lips came into contact with a spot just under his left eye. After a second, said lips moved away just enough to move down directly over one tender, tear-soaked cheek.

He hadn’t noticed at the time, through the unexpected wetness of his face and soft attack on his person, that a tongue had lightly flicked out to sweep away a still-moving tear.

Hux pulled his face away after a few seconds, his eyes closed and the slightly pink colour of his cheeks having spread further down to disappear under an unforgivably sharp uniform collar. Kylo trembled in his hands - hands that were placed lightly under a source of his physical insecurity and making soft soothing motions that only made him quiver even more. It felt like he might continue to cry if Hux continued much longer because…

...He really missed the affection. Soft touches. Peace.

Kylo immediately took a few steps backwards, not caring if there was anything under his feet. He had to get away from those hands, those thoughts, that was all that mattered. The way Hux’s eyes opened just enough to glare at him as if the situation was _his fault_ barely registered until Hux cleared his throat into his only gloved hand.

“I assume you can stop acting out now that you’ve had the attention you were so obviously seeking.”

Mockery. Of course, what else was he to expect?

“I wasn’t ‘acting out’, General,” he said, voice stuffy but completely unaltered without the mask, “I was just…”

Hux’s lips quirked up while seemingly waiting on the excuse Kylo would use for his behaviour. His pupils were dilated and the pinkness of his skin had only slightly lessened, yet he stood there calm as anything.

“What I was doing doesn’t matter anyway,” he pressed on, not willing to reveal any of his own reasons. “What matters is why you… that you…”

“Treated you like an upset child? Helped you stop your blubbering?”

“Kissed me!” He pressed on, incensed, “I’m no crying child and that was completely out of order, General.”

“Except that it worked. So really, Ren, what does it say about you that it worked?” A grin rose on his face, lopsided and cruel. “They said that you were acting like a child and treating you like one worked a treat… or do you want to cry it out some more, oh mighty Force user?”

He paced up to Kylo, smoke winding up from pieces of still-sparking and burning circuitry and dummy innards. His hands rested behind his back, his face was upturned and the mockery written there was blatant.

Kylo felt his hands twitch and at that moment he wished that he had not let his saber roll away on the floor. It would have been so perfect in that moment to activate it just under his pretentious little head.

Instead, he made do with leaning in and whispering darkly, barely a hair's breadth away from Hux’s lips, “There are other ways to calm a person down General. What does it say about you that your first thought was to kiss me?”

That made the ginger rear back as if he had been slapped, his eyes blown wide and lips ever so slightly parted. It made Kylo wonder in those precious few seconds before Hux moved a few steps back himself, what if they were to kiss properly the next time?

“It says nothing about me, Ren, except that I must now resort to only the most drastic of measures to get you to stop destroying First Order property!” His face had gone from pink to red.

“Sure thing, General. But…”

“ _But_ nothing, Ren!” He snarled, all mirth gone. “No doubt all that Force magic nonsense has addled what was left of your brains.”

“Take that back, _Hux_ , or else…”

“Or else what, you’ll use one of your little tricks on me? Are you sure that you can even do anything with the way you’re shaking?”

And he was. What emotion fueled it, he didn’t know, but it felt almost as strong as before. He resorted to closing his eyes and taking in a few deep breaths to avoid any more unintended waterworks. However, he knew Hux would take that as a win so he didn’t keep them closed for long.

He used the Force to pull the man forward by his perfect little collar, hoisting him slightly off the ground and putting them once again face to face. He smirked, deathly amused, as Hux’s eyes flew to his lips.

“I can do a lot more than this, General… and I think you just might want me to.”

The boney knee that came up to bludgeon his stomach was a surprise and he let go with an ‘oof’ and a wobble.

“It seems those small pecks on the cheek gave you ideas beyond your station, Ren. It’s obvious that calming you down wasn’t worth the idiocy thereafter.” He turned and strode to the door, so quick it was almost a jog.

Kylo only glared at him but took note of Hux fidgeting with his collar and the still heavy presence of the blush.

“Think twice about using your magic on my person, _Ren_. Next time, I won’t be so forgiving.”

And then he was gone. Kylo was alone in the ruins of the training room (and that was a problem he ended up having to deal with later), with so much more on his mind but a weight off of his shoulders.

The touch that Hux had given him had worked wonders, at least for a time. Anyone around him in those moments would have agreed that he was calmer, less of a haunting spectre, for a brief while. Eventually though, the touch faded and Kylo resumed his usually menacing nature. He didn’t forget though, about the charming blush on Hux’s face _or_ the gentle affections. 

And Kylo?

Kylo wanted more.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm absolute bollocks at writing dialogue. Help me........ But also Hux is an arsehole and I am utterly charmed?
> 
> I have a few other fandoms I might do fics for. Let me know if any of the following interest you:  
> Rise of The Guardians  
> Don't Starve  
> Hand of Fate  
> My Time At Portia


End file.
